adventuring IN + exploring IN

Bachelorette Bash

When Nicole asked me to be her Maid of Honor, I immediately started planning the bachelorette party. When you go to school for Event Management, it just sort of happens. I pictured lots of glitter, downtown vibes, high heels, and karaoke. Nicole, my little water baby, wanted to do a beach weekend at Lake of the Ozarks. Giant engagement ring pool floaties, boat rides, and tequilia sunrise at 10am? I’m in.

Nicole later realized that wasn’t the route she wanted to go and made up her mind to have her party in downtown Minneapolis! I booked 2 two-room suites at the Embassy by Hilton downtown so we were within walking distance to everywhere we would go. Nicole picked a few places that she would like to eat, a couple of activities for us to do, and found a few bars for us to try out. I started by making a reservation at Dollhouse Pole Dance Studio. We would spend two hours learning pole fitness. Of course, this would be a great time for some Instagram photos so I had Nicole pick out a few shirt designs that she liked and designed them myself. We both like to support small business and ended up using a local business based out of Knoxville: Upnstitchz.

At Dollhouse Studio, it definitely felt like we were part of a secret club. It was way back in the back of the building with little arrows leading the way. Once we arrived, there was a bottle of champagne waiting for us. Our instructor, Tasha, started by having us stretch, then “freestyle” where we just spun around on the poles to see if we knew anything about what we were going to be doing (we didn’t). She showed us a few moves and took time to help each of us so we all left knowing 100% more than we did when we came in.

After our class, we made our way to The Melting Pot. I had done research on all of the places we would be visiting but I just couldn’t quite imagine what this snazzy little place had in store for us. First of all, the whole place is centered around fondue. You can do appetizers, 4 course meals, chocolate and dessert fondue, or dessert drinks. We were there in the middle of the afternoon so I just planned on getting chocolate fondue. When I made the reservation for The Melting Pot, they asked if we were celebrating anything special and offered a surprise for Nicole with chocolates, champagne, and balloons! I couldn’t say no and it was totally worth it. When they seated us at a table surrounded by yellow rose petals and balloons, the look on her face was priceless. She said, WHO DID THIS? When I raised my hand she said, WHEN DID YOU HAVE TIME TO SET THIS UP? (Nicole’s loud). We got chocolate and peanut butter, Nicole’s favorite, and also tried the smores. The fondues came with a variety of things to dip: strawberries, bananas, pineapple, graham cracker crusted marshmallows, oreo covered marshmallows, brownie bites, blondie bites, pound cake, and rice krispies! It was good and we all ate way to much!

From there, we walked back to the parking garage to get our stuff and headed to the hotel. Upon our arrival, the rooms weren’t ready yet. When we got the keys to the first room, we went and set up all the decorations while we waited for the keys to the second room so girls could start getting ready. I had stopped by the grocery store earlier in the morning and stuck ice and juice in my cooler in my car that we could use for mixers. The hotel room was nice but very plain. I quickly jazzed it up with help from the other bridesmaids and got music playing before the rest of Nicole’s bride tribe arrived.

I set out buttons for everyone that I had made with my Cricut to let everyone who crossed us know this was a bachelorette party! We took photos in front of our sparkly backdrop, we played some music, took some shots, and prepared for our night on the town.

We played games until 7:30pm and made our way to Kieran’s (an Irish pub). I was still pretty full from my fondue but made sure to eat something so that I wouldn’t be famished after drinking and dancing. I had made a deck of truth and dare cards that Nicole could hand out at any point during the night. Alex got one that said, get someone to serenade the bride. She asked our waitress for help and next thing you know, Nicole was being serenaded to N*SYNC’s Bye, Bye, Bye by the lead singer of the band that would be performing later that night!

From there, we went back to the hotel so everyone could finish getting ready and then headed out to a Minneapolis favorite (okay, OUR Minneapolis favorite) called Gay 90’s. This place has 9 bars in one, usually has a drag show going on, and it is definitely unique. Nicole and I first found Gay 90’s when I came to visit her while she was in flight attendant school and my family was watching Haley play volleyball. We were underage then so we weren’t drinking but I couldn’t wait to go back and see if it was still the same. However, we realized it was pride weekend and the Pride Parade was the next morning so were were fairly certain the place would be packed. Nicole didn’t want to wait in line (and who could blame her) so we went around the corner to a bar called Sneaky Pete’s.

We stayed out too late, drinking and dancing. After shutting the place down, we slowly made our way back to the hotel, our feet severely hurting (okay, maybe it was just me and Calli but we were wearing the highest of heels!).

In the morning, we made our way to the hotel lobby for our complimentary breakfast and then loaded up all our stuff. I also laid out face masks and bath bombs from Victoria’s Secret for each girl to help them relax after they got home. (I couldn’t resist, I got an excellent deal on them). We took the after photo and carried all 47 of our bags back to the parking garage. After saying our goodbyes, I started the 10.5 hour journey back home. I got snapchats from the other girls but one thing was clear; we were ready for the wedding! #AboutFickenTime